tractorsfandomcom-20200215-history
Champion
Champion are a manufacturer of graders the originated in 1895, as a Canadian company. History The company started in America back in 1875. But the Canadian company originated in 1892 when "Copp Brothers" acquired the Canadian rights to manufacture & sell "Champion" graders in Canada. The first model being the Steel Champion Grader in 1895, this being a Horse draw machine built of all steel construction. The Copp brothers were bought out in 1897 and the company changed to the "Good Roads Machinery Company". The original American company taking control in 1909, with the firm being known as the "American Road Machinery Company of Canada Ltd". In the American depression of the 1920 the companies parted, and became "The Dominion Road Machinery Company". A powered model based on the McCormick-Deering tractor was launched in 1928, called the "powered Maintainer". A Hydraulic operated version the "Hydraulic Powered Maintainer was Launched in 1936. With dual tandem drive (6x4) from 1939. Then introduced blade lift for bank triming in 1946. In the 1950s they dropped other lines and concentrated on Grader production. The D500 series introduced. Fitted with a 12 ft blade and Choice of engines from 85-140 hp from GM or IHC. The 1960 saw the D600 series introduced, with 160-190 hp engines. Then in 1975 a redesigned D700 series was introduced, the first with articulated bodies. New line of Production graders launched for the Mining industry. 80T (latter upgraded to the 100T), this was a massive machine with a 24 ft blade, weighing in at about 90 ton with a 700hp Cummins engine. Few were built and in 1989 the design was sold off to the Dom-ex Corporation in Minnesota. Company name changed to Champion Road Machinery Company in 1977 from the Dominion name. They merged some operations with Volvo in 1997, but part of the company was de-merged in 2004 and still make a line of compact machine independent of Volvo. Following the Volvo merger the series VI machines were renamed as "G" designations and Champion was dropped for the Volvo name on the machines. Production continued in Canada, but the Articulated versions were discontinued. Volvo introduced a new G900 series in 2006, with seven model line up, from 155-265 hp. Model Range *Steel Champion Grader, a Horse drawn model of 1895 *Powered Maintainer, of 1928 was first tractor based model. *Hydraulic Powered Maintainer, of 1936 was first hydraulic controlled model. *507 Utility Grader, 47 hp based on a converted tractor skid unit. *D500 series with 12 ft blades **D560 **D562 **D565 *D600 series **D600 12 ft blade **D686 13 ft blade *D700 series **D710 & D710A 1978 **D720 (see photo above) **D730A (Articulated version) **D740 180-215 hp **D760 **D780A 14ft 215 hp (Articulated model) 1981 *Series III upgrade in 1989 *series IV upgrade in 1995 *Series V upgrade in 1997 *Series VI upgrade in 1999 then Volvo dropped the Champion Name. *G900 series 2006 Volvo designation **G930 **G940 **G946 6 wd **G960 **G970 **G976 6 wd **G990 See also *Volvo Construction Equipment *List of Construction Plant Manufacturers *Glossary Index References / sources * Volvo web site company History *Classic Plant & Machinery Magazine V5-8 External links * Volvo web site Category:Companies of Canada Category:Companies of the United States Category:Construction plant manufacturers Category:Merged companies Category:Grader manufacturers Category:Champion